I’m an Atheist. So is my immediate family. But we are Buddhists because there’s no Tiada box to tick on our birth certificates. I’m fine with religions, I love the public holidays that come with them. But what I’m not fine with is when people of different faiths get intimidated for some stupid rhetorical technicalities.
Torching churches because they’re allowed by law to use the word “Allah”? Why the violence? It is just a word. An abstract thing that you can’t feel or touch. It is not your mother, father, brother or sister. Okay, so it is your God. But surely Allah is powerful enough to look after Himself, no? Besides, they are not using the word in a disrespectful context. In fact, some Moslems believe that Christians are practicing the same religion and worshipping the same God, albeit off tangent (read: wrong prophet, oops). So why resort to violence over a word?
It is so easy to blame the politicians & medias for sensationalizing this issue. If they hadn’t made such a big fuss out of this, giving opinions at every opportunity they can, I’m pretty sure these terrible incidents would not have happened. Most importantly, the issue would not have been hijacked by some young, stupid arsonists.
In fact, this shouldn’t be a Muslim vs Christian issue at all. This should be about Malaysians against crimes. Catch the perpetrators, Mr. Police. Even if they’re hiding in mosques, I believe Allah would gladly welcome a couple of minutes of commotion in his House so long these terrorists who give Islam a bad name can be apprehended. Wouldn’t He?
Disclaimer: Comments on this blog post do not represent the opinions’ of the writer of the blog post unless stated otherwise by the writer (ie: me).